January's annual self-improvement campaigns are bringing together a couple of words most of us don't expect to see side-by-side: yoga and injuries.

That's because people think they can't get too much of a good thing, says Vancouver physiotherapist Lindsay McLeod.

"First thing in the year a lot of people jump on bandwagons in general and exercise and fitness tends to be a really big one. Especially with yoga. Yoga is kind of the gateway drug of exercise because it's thought that it's a very benign exercise: it's easy, it's relaxing, it's gentle, anybody can do it," says McLeod of City Sports and Physiotherapy.

"So first thing in the year when people are trying to get on an exercise program ... they want to try out yoga and then we see people coming in with these yoga-type injuries."

A 2009 study published in the International Journal of Yoga Therapy found that the most common injuries involved the neck, lower back, shoulders, wrist and knee. Based on responses from 1,336 yoga teachers and therapists, it found certain yoga poses were linked to specific injuries: neck problems from head stands and shoulder stands; wrist and shoulder injuries from plank pose in all its variations and downward-facing dog; lower back strains from forward bends and twisting poses; knee injuries from a variety of bent-legged poses including warrior and its variations, hero, pigeon and lotus positions.

Mcleod says many strains are old injuries that are aggravated when stretches are pushed to the point of pain.

Physiotherapist Kerry Maxwell, owner of Burrard Physiotherapy in downtown Vancouver, says she's seen a variety of muscle and tendon sprains, but only one serious neck injury in the last five years. Women tend to come in with upper-body strains while men injure their lower bodies more, hitting the weakest areas in both sexes.

While she's seen patients of all ages, there seems to be an increase in the over-40 group and she says she has a gut feeling about the reason.

"A lot of people my age - I'm 42 - are starting to take better care of themselves and yoga becomes a part of that. But as we age our tissues are a little bit stiffer and we've probably suffered a few injuries in our youth and we're doing classes with a bunch of ridiculously flexible 20-year-olds, trying to keep up. It's a matter of doing things within your actual physical ability and not how you remember you used to be able to do it."

Knowing your own body and paying attention to what it's saying is a key tenet of yoga, but that's not always part of today's yoga business, says Shivani Wells, an instructor and Phoenix Rising yoga therapist in Vancouver.

She says it's often the 20-somethings in her classes who are cranking themselves to the most advanced variation of poses - whether they're ready for them or not - because they have objectified their bodies.

Whereas Wells says the original intent of yoga is to quiet body and mind in pursuit of stillness and inner freedom, the asanas, or practising postures, have been "turned into something which activates the ego and pulls us away from this goal."

"It should come as no surprise now that people are getting injured, just as people get injured in all forms of competitive sports."

Still, Wells says her early years of dance were much harder on her body. "When I was a dancer I definitely experienced more serious injuries and I would say that's the result of trying to meet the physical demands of that career and not being ever told to listen to your body and do what your body needs.

"And yet when I look at my yoga practice, the only time I've ever experienced injury was last year. I hyperextended my wrist."

One of the reasons physiotherapists are seeing more injuries is merely a reflection of the ballooning interest in yoga, says Lori Charko, founder of North Vancouver's Body Harmony Yoga. "If you're looking at the number of people who are practising yoga, it's exponentially more, so of course everybody's going to see more injuries," she says. "My feeling is that a lot of studios are packing people in and one teacher to 40 students is not a safe way to conduct a class."

The number of Metro Vancouver yoga studios with business telephone listings grew to 88 from 60 over the last five years. That's nearly a 50-per-cent increase and doesn't include all the fitness centres offering yoga as a part of their programs or yoga instructors who don't have separate listings, according to research compiled by analyst Mark Eversfield of Small Business BC.

And while yoga instructor Alex Atherton agrees some tweaked bodies are inevitable when millions of North Americans are turning to yoga, he says the potential for healing far outweighs any risk. He should know. He began to practise yoga about a decade ago in his mid-20s, after suffering concussions and whiplash from skiing and playing university-level soccer.

"I've mostly seen yoga which has taken wrecked bodies and made them whole again or healthy again. That's my personal experience."

As for injuries, he says that happens when "the obsession becomes to create the perfect shape ... that's where the risk lies."

He teaches at the Yyoga chain which has seven studios in the Lower Mainland after three years in business.

Students shouldn't expect to do every posture perfectly, he says. They need to take it slowly and respect their limits.

Advice from Metro Vancouver yoga instructors and physiotherapists aimed at keeping you on your mat and out of the clinic:

. Build your base slowly. If you're new to yoga, start with a beginner's class and master basic breathing and postures before moving on.

. Don't be afraid to use props. Sit up on a block if your hamstrings are tight or use a strap to help get into a bend if you're not very bendy.

. Yoga postures aren't always comfort-able, but they should never be painful. Back off if you can't breathe or sustain the pose. Choose a variation that doesn't hurt.

. Learn the difference between a stretching sensation and over-stretching. Sharp pain or numbness mean you've gone way too far.

. The best way to challenge yourself is to work at your edge, where pushing farther would be overzealous and backing off would make you a slacker.

. Hot yoga (classes held in a room heated to the point where everyone's sweating heavily) can be great for some people, but can lead others to push warm muscles to the point of injury.

. Yoga is not a competitive sport. Concentrate on what you're doing, not the guy next to you.

. Check out different instructors and studios. What's their training? Are you comfortable with their methods?

. The choices are endless: hatha, anusara, vinyasa, yin, restorative, power. Find something suitable for you. Word of mouth is a good place to start

eellis@vancouversun.com

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